What a complicated evening, perhaps as necessary as it was insufficient. Terribly long and indulgent but full of honest, inspiring effort and sprinkled with occasional bolts of rewarding light, this was Monday at Town Hall, the first installment of...

''Bump it with a trumpet,'' advised Miss Mazeppa, the horn-blowing stripper from the musical ''Gypsy.'' Her suggestion that a touch of brass could brighten up an act, or at least make it look new, was confirmed two years ago when a little-known...

May 25, 2001, Friday

Four months after the Tony Awards broadcast registered its lowest ratings, the show's overseers are close to hiring a new managing producer, presumably to add some zip. In typical Broadway fashion, however, the new blood is an old Broadway hand:...